Angie & James · Downtown Brandon
A couple of dreamers and a whole lot of good company.
Our story has always had food in it. These days, it has a little bakery on 10th Street, a team we love, and an awful lot of people we're glad to feed.
Let us tell you how we got here
Long before the sign went up
âOkay, so THAT'S going on our menu!â
We've been breaking bread together since we were teenagers. Heck, we've been breaking cheesecakes and cookies and pies together, too.
Through our travels, on dates, and around our own table, whenever we tasted something we really loved, one of us would say, âOkay, so THAT'S going on our menu!â There wasn't a restaurant. There wasn't even a space. Just the two of us, collecting ideas for a place we hoped we'd build someday.
By the time we got married, we'd already shared so much food and so many of those little plans. Somewhere along the way, âsomedayâ started to feel like something we could actually do.
Putting the work into the dream
A chef coat, a few medals, and a lot of practice.
Angie graduated from the Manitoba Institute of Culinary Arts with Distinction. While she was learning, she was competing, too. That journey took her across Manitoba and across the country, bringing home gold, silver and bronze medals along the way.
We were proud of the medals, of course. But the hours behind them mattered just as much. Learning, trying again, getting the details right... all of that came with her into the kitchen.
Our first little version of Chez Angela
Three days at the counter. Up to five in the kitchen.
Before we had our own front door, Angie ran a pop-up at the Global Kitchen. For 18 months, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays were our days to serve. Hundreds of customers came through, and baking for those three days could fill as many as five days of the week.
It was a lot. It was also where this stopped being a conversation about an imaginary menu. People were showing up, coming back, and making us part of their week.
That last look into the kitchen held quite a bit... gratitude for where we'd started, and nerves about what came next.
A place of our own
She could already see it.
There were bare walls, exposed framing, and more work ahead than we could quite get our heads around. Angie stood in that vacant building and dreamed about what it could become.
A kitchen to make the food we'd talked about for years. A café where people could settle in. A little place downtown that felt like ours, and eventually like yours, too.
Some stories belong in the walls
Our first dates are still part of this place.
The Strand Theatre, just a block away, was one of our first dates. When it was demolished, we knew we wanted to keep a little of its story here downtown.
We reclaimed bricks and some of the wood, and gave them another home in the café. They're part of the room you sit in now.
We liked the idea that a place where we'd spent time together could become part of a place where other people would do the same.
Almost opening day
Six people. So much equipment.
A few nerves... okay, a lot of nerves.
A week before opening, there were boxes everywhere, new equipment to figure out, and a whole lot of anticipation. We had a small team of six and so many stories that hadn't happened yet.
Looking at these photos now, it's easy to feel fond of it all. At the time? It was stressful! We were trying to get everything ready for the moment people would finally walk through the door.
Making room for more
More tables. More reasons to stay.
In 2023, we took over the neighbouring space and doubled the size of the café. All those ideas about gathering people around food suddenly had a little more room.
After Hours is one of our favourite ways to fill it. A multi-course dinner, live music, and an evening to settle in with good company. Seeing this room full of people sharing that together still means a lot to us.
Come spend an evening with usTaking our kitchen beyond these walls
It started with supper for four to six.
Our catering started with meals for four to six people. Then the tables got bigger. These days, that can mean 400 hot lunches, supper for 200 guests, or as many as 1,600 desserts for a charity gala.
We've fed dozens of film, stage and television productions, along with local organizations, corporate luncheons, conferences and all kinds of gatherings. Each one has its own moving parts, and its own people to look after.
It's quite a jump from those first little meals. We're grateful for the people who've trusted us to make it with them. Psst! You can have us cater your events, too!
The people around our table
We feed each other, too.
Our team is made up of people we really, truly care about. We spend a lot of our days making food for other people, so several times a year we get together outside of work for âfamily meal.â
We make food for each other, pull up chairs, and share a meal. It's a chance to be together without the next order waiting. These are some of the people who have made Chez Angela what it is, and we're lucky to have them at our table.
Being part of this community
Showing up matters.
For more than five years, we've served the Sacred Fire Keepers during our local Truth and Reconciliation Week. We've kept volunteers fed and topped up with hot beverages, shuttled Elders, helped with tipis, made bannock, and participated in the walk to the residential school.
We're grateful to be included, and to keep learning. Food is one way we can help. So is being there, listening, and doing the work we're asked to do.
